Jerome McHenry
Husband, father, orphan, veteran, reader, euchre king. Born April 27, 1921, in Lonsdale, Ont. Died July 3, 2011, in Kingston of an illness, aged 90.
Before Jerome McHenry was 15, he had lost his parents and his home and watched his younger siblings taken in by family and neighbours. It was a hardscrabble life that could have left him bitter. Instead, it taught him that people were basically good, and that God would provide.
Born on a small farm in Lonsdale, Ont., Jerome was the second of 11 children. His mother, Margaret McKeown, died in childbirth, and his father, John Brophy McHenry, died a year later of pneumonia. Jerome worked on a farm, then moved to Kingston and joined the army at 19, fighting in the Italian campaign.
His family considered him a hero not because of his medals or his time in battle but because of what he drew from those experiences. He learned at a young age that life was a treasure, that children were a gift and that faith was what brought you through. These values reinforced his belief that happiness is a choice. It was a choice he made every day.
He met the love of his life, Eileen Corrigan, at a party to welcome him home after the war. They were married in 1945, settled in Kingston and raised five children: Justin, Jerome Jr., Donna, Patty and Larry.
Jerome worked for 35 years at Anglin's as an electrician and oil burner mechanic. He loved to play euchre, and after retiring in 1986 he played three times a week.
Jerome was an avid reader and consummate storyteller. His children often would find him reading one of their school books. His bedtime stories about Lobo the Wolf came right out of his imagination. His children thought he was magic, a living folk song.
One of his favourite memories came after he retired. It was November, and the Grade 2 class I taught didn't understand what Remembrance Day was all about. I told them a little about Jerome and they decided to write to him. He wrote back to each child and his message was clear: War was not good and should always be a last resort.
The letters and his replies were gathered into a book and submitted to the Visions Canada competition of the Halton Region Museum. When the award was presented the children dragged him up to the front with them, and the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Jerome died at 90 surrounded by his family. I have often wondered where that lonely little boy with no parents, little education and no real future in sight found the courage to go on. What you and I see as an ordinary life – marriage, children, buying that first house, owning a car – was extraordinary to him.
At the end of his life he still had faith that God would provide, hope for the future and the courage to love with a giving heart.
By Donna Dortmans, Jerome's daughter.